Smith, E. (c.1675–c.1732) one of the most important cookery writers of the first half of the 18th century. Her Compleat Housewife: or, Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion appeared in 1727 and new editions followed until 1773. It was also the first cookery book printed in America: William Parks used the 5th edition as the basis for his 1742 publication at Williamsburg, and further editions appeared at Williamsburg in 1752 and in New York in 1751 and 1764. What little is known of the author comes from the various editions of her book: she states in her 1727 preface that she has been employed by ‘fashionable and noble Families’ for more than thirty years. Assuming that she went into service aged about 15, this gives a probable birth-date in the 1670s. The title pages of the 5th and 6th editions (1732/3 and 1734) announce nearly 50 new receipts, ‘communicated just before the Author’s Death’.
